Veritas Shop Fabrication lays off 67 in Whitehouse

Published 1:29 pm Tuesday, March 31, 2020

A Whitehouse manufacturer has laid off 67 employees.

According to a Texas Workforce Commission WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) alert on Tuesday, Veritas Shop Fabrication reported that it had laid off the employees on Thursday.

According to WARN database entries, this is the only employer in Smith County who has recently reported a large layoff.

Veritas is owned by parent company, Jasper Ventures, an oil and gas processing corporation based in Smith County.

Les Campbell, vice president of shared services at Jasper Ventures, said the layoffs were made due to the recent drop in oil price and less demand for oil and gas.

He also called the decision unfortunate and said the company hated to do it.

The WARN database shows a similar trend across the state, with Haliburton Energy Services laying off 3,500 employees on March 18.

Other areas seeing large impacts are hotels and restaurants, according to the listings on the WARN report.